Russian Court Detains Six Suspects From REvil Group, But Refuses To Hand Over To US

Alexei Malozemov, one of the REvil members who was arrested by the Russian police. (photo: twitter)

JAKARTA - A Moscow court on Saturday, January 15 arrested six suspected members of the ransomware crime group, REvil, on charges of trafficking illegal funds, a day after Russia claimed to have dismantled the group at the request of the United States.

The court identified the six people as Mikhail Golovachuk, Ruslan Khansvyarov, Dmitry Korotayev, Alexei Malozemov, Artyom Zayets and Daniil Puzyrevsky.

It is a rare demonstration of US-Russian collaboration at a time of high tension between the two over Ukraine. Russian authorities detained and charged members of the REvil group this week.

A group of police and domestic intelligence operations FSB, searched 25 addresses, detained 14 people. The FSB also said on Friday the list of assets it had seized included $600,000 of computer equipment and 20 luxury cars.

According to a Reuters report, the United States welcomed the arrests. The US also said in November it was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of anyone holding a key position in the REvil group.

A source familiar with the case told Interfax that the group's Russian nationals would not be handed over to the United States.

The arrest of the REvil group was questioned because it occurred at a time when relations between Russia and the US were deteriorating due to Russia deploying troops on the border with Ukraine. Moreover, the arrests came after a wave of cyber attacks in Ukraine.

It is suspected that the arrests were made to defuse US anger over allegations that Russia was also behind the cyberattack on Ukraine. Moreover, the six suspects from REvil itself were reluctant to be handed over to the US by Russia.